TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert Walshe

Home and Away Extra

Celebrity BBC chef Valen-tine Warner will join Holland Americas the ms Eurodam “Fjords and Highlands” cruise departing from Dover on 3rd June 2011, where he will dem-onstrate his cookery skills to guests on board. Valentine Warner is a food writer and cook with a passion for nature, the seasons and mainly being outdoors. Warner will have the use of Holland America Line’s Culinary Arts Center, a state of the art theatre-style “kitchen at sea”, where cel-ebrated chefs are invited to offer guests complimentary cooking demonstrations and culinary classes*. He will be hosting several special Culinary Arts activities and demonstrations for all guests in the elegant surroundings of ms Eurodam as she sails

from Dover to the Norwegian Fjords and Scottish Highlands in June ‘11.The 2,104-guest ms Eurodam will cruise from the port of Dover on 3rd June 2011, calling at Copenhagen in Denmark, Oslo in Norway (overnight) Kristiansand and Bergen in Norway; Inver-gordon in the Scottish High-lands, South Queensferry (for Edinburgh) and Newcastle upon Tyne, before return-ing to Dover on 15th June. Prices start from £1,129 per person sharing a twin inside stateroom. Holland America Line will offer a further ten Baltic, Fjords and Mediter-ranean cruises from Dover and Tilbury during summer 2011 onboard three premium ships, the line’s biggest ex-UK programme to date. www.hol-landamerica.com

LivingTrAVELLINg at the best of times is hard work but your hands are certainly full when travelling with children which is why Aisling O’Donoghue, Founder of Baby Travel Shop, made a short film in associa-tion with the DAA to give first time parents some handy tips and info to make travel-ling through the airport that much easier. From check-in to security screening, Ais-ling shows parents how to ease the pressure and make you and your family’s air-port experience as easy and convenient as possible. To view Aisling’s guide to travel-ling through Dublin Airport, please visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugenbta2aBw

Weekend HotspotThe Stafford London by

Kempinski is a five star hotel in St. James’s where the se-cluded location makes this luxurious hotel a real hid-den gem for those seeking a home away from home. This historic building enjoys the ambience of a stately home with an award-winning per-sonal service in an oasis of calm. Behind green Park, The Stafford London by Kem-pinski is located at walking distance from Buckingham and St James’s Palace, Picca-dilly Circus and Bond Street. The main house of The Staf-ford consists of three town-houses brought together in the 1920s. There are over 100 rooms in this building along with the Lounge - where you can indulge in afternoon tea, or indulge with a more formal feast at the classy Stafford restaurant. The world-fa-mous American Bar is a must see where hundreds of signed celebrity photos dating back to the 1960s cover the walls and the ceiling is hung with a colourful collection of club ties, sporting mementoes, baseball caps, model aircraft and customer memorabilia from around the globe. At the back in a private, cobbled courtyard there is the 18th

century Carriage House which was converted in 1990. Above the stables you’ll find private apartments, each including a separate living room. The mews has direct access from St. James’s Street so it really does feel live having your own address in St. James’s as you never need to go through the main hotel building. Across from the Carriage House is The Stafford Mews, where £26 million was spent to trans-form an office block into 26 suites where I enjoyed my 48 hours in this stunning part of London. All the guest rooms are individually decorated, re-flecting the hotel’s origins as a private home. Some of the deluxe units offer four-post-ers and much has been done to preserve the original style of these rooms. Here, origi-nal architecture, traditional décor with contemporary touches, antique reproduc-tion furniture, fireplaces, Juli-ette balconies, and super king sized beds make the authen-tic experience while wireless Internet, Bose CD radios, iPod docking stations and plasma-screen TVs make it realistic. The Christmas elves at the hotel are already busy plan-ning for the upcoming festive season, ensuring traditions that have been in place for years are ready for guests’ ar-rival. The festive theme con-tinues as guests enter their room where they are wel-comed by a beautifully deco-rated tree, and gifts of citrus fruits, nuts, and mince pies. In addition, an extra present will be delivered to their room on Christmas morn-ing by the elves that call the hotel home. Dine on a clas-sic 5-course Christmas Eve dinner. The dinner includes the hotel’s famous Assiette of Welsh Lamb including hot pot potatoes, peppered leaks, and rosemary jus. Be sure to save room as the feasting continues on Christmas Day with a 5-course lunch party that breaks at 3PM so all may watch the Queen’s annual

speech. general Man-ager, Stuart Procter and his family will perform carols on Christmas Eve with a choir from a local church in the hotel’s historic 380-year-old wine cellars guests can also indulge in roasted chestnuts and sample Head Barman Ben Provost’s famous mulled wine with the compliments of the hotel. Afterwards guests can join the staff on the annual candle-lit walk to midnight mass at the nearby guard’s Chapel before retiring to the comfort of their rooms to ea-gerly await Christmas morn-ing The Holiday Package is available through December 31, 2010 and includes: Full English breakfast for two glass of mulled wine upon arrival rates starting at £ 295 exclusive of VAT with a mini-mum of two nights required to book. www.kempinski.com/thestafford Shopping in London is on par with New York, Milan or Paris. Suiting all tastes, styles and budgets, make sure you head to Lon-don for the ultimate shopping destination this winter. Thou-sands of shops line the city’s streets, filled with everything from expertly sourced vin-tage fashion to the latest in contemporary design. In just over an hour flight time you can be in shopper heaven! BMI fly direct from Dublin up to four times daily from

as little as €35 one way including all taxes and charges and from george Best Belfast City airport seven times daily. www.flybmi.com

Weekly Best Buy

Panorama H o l i d a y s has just announced a selec-tion of early winter offers on its weekly departures from Dublin to Egypt, covering a range of excellent properties from just €539 for 7 nights. Crème de la crème is 7 nights B&B in the magnificent 5-star ritz Carlton Sharm El Sheikh for 2 people sharing for just €739, departing December 2nd, 9th or 16th. It features its own dive centre, spa and multiple award-winning res-taurants. Prices are based on 2 sharing and include return flights from Dublin, 7 night’s accommodation, resort trans-fers, baggage allowance and all taxes and charges. www.panoramaholidays.ie

Robert Walshe is a free-lance contributor / broad-caster and is guest travel writer for River Media news-paper titles across the island of Ireland.

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray: Animal Behavioural Therapist

with Kathleen Murray

Dogs and treadmillsWHY would someone put their dog on a treadmill? One an-swer is that some people can-not control their dog so they try other things.

Another answer is that some people see an over-actice young dog as needing to run a lot but they don,t see the real problem behind the over-active behaviour People do it if they are injured or ill short term. People also do it because it is fashionable and the “man on the TV” does it. Some dogs are very hyper and are always wanting more and more “run-ning” even after a long walk.

A treadmill will not stop this behaviour. These dogs need to

be taught how to relax not to run more.

If you have a dog that is very energetic or anxious then it needs to be exerccised of course, but having a super fit athlete in your home puts you under more even pressure to keep up with the dog.

You are probably not that en-ergetic yourself to start with. We can never run fast enough or long enough to properly exercise a dog. They were de-signed to trot along for about 30 Kilometres a day.

Are you tired already? If you are unwell and can’t exercise your dog then a treadmill, short term, and for short pe-

riods of time, can be helpful. After I had my heart surgery a few years ago I used a tread-mill for the dogs short term as I couldn’t walk or hold a dog on a lead for a length of time. It made me feel like I was not neglecing them and they were still getting “a walk.”

Your problems become your dogs problems. I was de-lighted to be able to exercise them again myself eventually. A treadmill is not there to take the place of a walk. A walk is very important for you and your dog so that you can bond and confirm that you are the leader. If your dog is pulling or walking in front of you then

you are not the leader. A leader leads. It’s that simple. Only one of you can do that.

Valuable lessons are learned during a walk and it should be relaxing for both you and your dog. To exercise a dog properly you should bring the dog to an open space where it can run freely after a ball or other toy. This is a good way to exercise a dog and then walk for about 10 minutes after the game to let the dog “wind down” again... otherwise you leave the dog on a “high” and this will make it hyper and not relaxed.

The dog’s body needs to heat up and cool down just like ours does when we are exer-

cising. Damage can be done to dogs’ muscles if they are not treated properly. A treadmill is scary for a dog and it needs to be introduced properly to it. Never ever leave a dog un-attended on a treadmill, even for 10 seconds, as the dog may choke, pull a muscle or need to go to the toilet.

A dog could panic if you leave the room and be badly injured when you get back. Dogs cannot run for half an hour, anymore than we can, the first time that they get on a

treadmill. They need to warm up then trot a bit and then cool down again.

If a dog has a medical prob-lem, an injury or any ailment do not put it on a treadmill as it could be in a lot of pain or have a heart attack. Do not put a pup on a treadmill. Check with your vet before you do something like this with any dog. There are many people out there using “tools” on dogs and they have no experience and even less common sense. Please don’t be one of them.

n Master suite The Stafford, London.

n The Stafford, London exterior at Christmas.

n The Stafford London courtyard at Christmas.